First, when the inevitable downturn comes along, zest helps us to accept it as part of the process, maybe even part of the fun. This is the funny story that you’ll tell at your next job interview in answer to the question about overcoming a challenge, or the one you’ll tell when you receive the lifetime achievement award for your industry in twenty years, or the one you’ll tell your grand-kids when they want to know about your life. There is a dark beauty in even the pitfalls of a project.

Second, zest is how we make sure that we’re truly enjoying the good parts of the creative journey. The downsides are worth it when the upsides are fun, exciting, and satisfying. Zest makes sure that we don’t take those moments for granted. Instead, we enjoy the heck out of them. Zest reminds us to smell the roses, to appreciate the brush strokes, and to get a kick out of the perfect word showing up just when we wanted it.